The Mysuru District Lorry Owners’ Association has called for an indefinite strike from January 17 in protest against the strict punishment proposed in the new law Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for hit-and-run cases.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, association president B. Kodandarama said the Centre had brought in the amendment without holding any consultation with representatives of truck owners and drivers’ unions in the country.
Referring to the 10 years of imprisonment proposed for persons escaping after causing death due to rash and negligent driving, Mr. Kodandarama sought to know who would take care of the families of drivers if they were arrested and jailed for 10 years.
Though truck owners and drivers in northern parts of India had already launched an agitation, Mr. Kodandarama said the lorry owners and drivers in Karnataka were starting the strike from January 17 to ensure that there was no disruption in supply of goods ahead of Sankranti, which falls on January 15.
Though essential commodities like medicine, milk, water, and farm products, including vegetables, had been exempted from the strike, Mr. Kodandarama did not rule out their non-supply as petrol and diesel movement is expected to hit owing to the planned strike.
He claimed that drivers stood to be penalised under the new law even if they were not at fault. He said many accidents took place when speeding cars crash into parked trucks from behind. Lorry drivers parked their vehicles by the road side to freshen up or answer nature’s call.
The government collected toll from vehicles but had not provided any amenities for truck drivers like toilets or bathrooms to freshen up, he alleged.
He called upon the government to immediately withdraw the new law and take up infrastructure works on highways to prevent road accidents.
The union representatives said leaders of truck owners’ association were talking with leaders of KSRTC bus drivers’ unions also on their joining the agitation. For, the new law affected not only truck drivers, but also drivers of buses, cars, two-wheelers and other vehicles too. “It is the same law for drivers of all vehicles,” said a representative of the Mysuru District Lorry Owners’ Association.
If the Centre did not withdraw the law, let the goods transportation sector be privatised, Mr. Kodandarama said.
